Overheard@GDC: Homefront devs 'put a baby in a dumpster' (and then took it out)

Kaos Studios' Homefront has gone "gold" and is under two weeks away from being released. We found out yesterday afternoon about one scenario that didn't make the cut: protecting a dumpster ... with a baby in it.

Lead single-player designer Chris Cross (real name!) related a story about the team's process of involving civilian presence in the game. Cross said his team wanted to "make it relevant without making it cheap." As it turns out, relevant became a little crazy -- at least initially.

"We went through all kinds of crazy crap! We put a baby in a dumpster and were using that as a bullet shield," Cross explained, heartily laughing. "We were trying a bunch of very strange ideas."

We'll be doggedly exploring every dumpster we find in Homefront in search of secret (baby) easter eggs when the game ships on March 15.

Homefront Info

Description

The year is 2027. The world as we know it is unraveling after fifteen years of economic meltdown and widespread global conflict over dwindling natural resources. A once proud America has fallen, her infrastructure shattered and military in disarray. Crippled by a devastating EMP strike, the USA is powerless to resist the ever expanding occupation of a savage, nuclear armed Greater Korean Republic. Abandoned by her former allies, the United States is a bleak landscape of walled towns and abandoned suburbs. This is a police state where high school stadiums have become detention centers, and shopping malls shelter armored attack vehicles. A once-free people are now prisoners, or collaborators,or revolutionaries. Join the Resistance, stand united and fight for freedom against an overwhelming military force in Homefront's gripping single player campaign penned by John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Red Dawn). Stand alongside a cast of memorable characters as an emotional plot unfolds in this terrifyingly plausible near-future world. Experience visceral, cinematic first-person shooter action as you fight your way across Occupied USA using guerrilla tactics, and commandeer military vehicles and advanced drone technology to defeat the enemy. Multiplayer brings epic warfare to the online arena as infantry, tanks, attack helicopters and combat drones battle across huge, open battlefields. A rich feature set offering layers of tactical depth combined with a game-changing innovation in the multiplayer space will set a new benchmark in online warfare.